LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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ADDRESS 



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DEMOCRATIC MEMBERS OF CONGfl 

TO THE 

DEMOCRACY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



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Fellow- Citizens : 

The perilous condition of the country demands that we should 
counsel together. Party organization, restricted within proper 
limits, is a positive good, and indeed essential to the preservation 
of public liberty. Without it the best Government would soon 
degenerate into the worst of tyrannies.. In despotisms the chief 
use of power is in crushing out party opposition. In our own 
country the experience of the last twelve months proves, more 
than any lesson in history, the necessity of party organization. 
The present Administration was chosen by a party, and in all 
civil acts and appointments has recognized, and still does, its 
fealty and obligations to that party. There must and will be an 
opposition. The public safety and good demand it. Shall it be 
a new organization or an old one ? The Democratic party was 
founded more than sixty years ago. It has never been disbanded. 
To-day it numbers one million five hundred thousand electors in 
the States still loyal to the Union. Its recent numerous victories 
in municipal elections in the Western and Middle States proves 
its vitality. Within the last ten months it has held State con- 
ventions and nominated full Democratic tickets in every free 
State in the Union. Of no other party opposed to the Republi- 
cans, can the same be said. 

SHALL THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY BE NOW DISBANDED? 

Why should it ? Are its ancient principles wrong ? What are 
they ? Let its platforms for thirty years speak : 

"Resolved, That the American Democracy place their trust in the intelligence, 
the patriotism, and the discriminating justice of the American people. 

"That we regard this as a distinctive feature in our political creed, which we are 
proud to maintain before the world, as the great moral element in a form of Gov- 
ernment springing from and upheld by the popular will ; and we contrast it with the 
creed and practice of Federalism, under whatever name or form, which seeks to 
palsy the will of the constituent, and which conceives no imposture too monstrons 
for the popular credulity. 



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"That the Federal Government is one of limited power, derived solely from the 
Constitution; and the grants of power made therein ought to be strictly construed 
by all the departments and agents of the Government; and that it is inexpedient 
and dangerous to exercise doubtful constitutional powers." 

And as explanatory of -these the following from Mr. Jefferson's 
first inaugural : 

"The support of the State Governments in all their rights as the most competent 
administrations of our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti- 
republican tendencies. 

"The preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor 
as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad. 

"A jealous care of the right of election by the penple. 

" The supremacy of the civil oveu the military authority. 

"Economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened. 

"The honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith. 

"Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person under pro- 
tection OF THE HABEUS CORPUS, AND TRIAL BY JURIES IMPARTIALLY SELECTED." 

Such, Democrats, are the principles of your party, essential to 
public liberty and to the stability and wise administration of the 
Government, alike in peace and war. They are the principles 
upon which the Constitution and the Union were founded ; and 
under the control of a party which adheres to them, the Consti- 
tution would be maintained and the Union could not be dissolved. 

Is the policy of the Democratic party wrong that it should be 
disbanded ? 

Its policy is consistent with its principles, and may be summed 
up, from the beginning, as follows : The support of liberty as 
against power; of the people as against their agents and ser- 
vants ; and of State rights as against consolidation and central- 
ized despotism ; a simple Government ; no public debt ; low 
taxes; no high protective tariff; no general system of internal 
improvements by Federal authority; no National Bank; hard 
money for the Federal public dues; no assumption of State 
debts ; expansion of territory ; self-government for the Territories, 
subject only to the Constitution; the absolute compatibility of a 
union of the States, " part slave and part free ;" the admission of 
new States, with or without slavery, as they may elect ; non-in- 
terference by the Federal Government with slavery in State and 
Territory, or in the District of Columbia ; and, finally, as set 
forth in the Cincinnati Platform, in 1856, and reaffirmed in 1S60, 
absolute and eternal " repudiation of all sectional parties and 
platforms concerning domestic slavery which seek to embroil 
the States and incite to treason and armed resistance to law in 
the Territories, and whose avowed purposes, if consummated, 
must end in civil war and disunion." 

Such was the ancient and the recent policy of the Democratic 
party, running through a period of sixty years — a policy consist- 
ent with the principles of the Constitution, and absolutely essen- 
tial to the preservation of the Union. 

Does the history of the Democratic party prove that it ought 
to be abandoned ? " By their fruits shall ye know them." Sec- 
tional parties do not achieve Union triumphs. For sixty years from 



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the inauguration of Jefferson on the 4th of March, 1801, the Dem- 
o- ocratic party, with short intervals, controlled the power and the 
,-. policy of the Federal Government. For forty-eight years out of 
these sixty, Democratic men ruled the country; for forty-four 
''years and eight months the Democratic policy prevailed. During 
Hhis period Louisiana, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and California 
were successively annexed to our territory, with an area more than 
twice as large as all the original Thirteen States together. Seven- 
teen new States were admitted under strictly Democratic admin- 
istrations — one under the Administration of Fillmore. From five 
millions, the population increased to thirty-one millions. The 
Revolutionary debt was extinguished. Two foreign wars were suc- 
cessfully prosecuted, with a moderate outlay and a small army 
and navy, and without the suspension of the habeas corpus ; with- 
out one infraction of the Constitution ; without one usurpation of 
power; without suppressing a single newspaper ; without impris- 
oning a single editor; without limit to the freedom of press, or of 
speech in or out of Congress, but in the midst of the grossest 
abuse of both ; and without the arrest of a single- " traitor," 
though the Hartford Convention sat during one of the wars, and 
in the other Senators invited the enemy to "greet our volun- 
teers WITH ELOODT HANDS AND WELCOME THEM TO HOSPITABLE 
GRAVES." 

Daring all this time wealth increased, business of all kinds mul- 
tiplied, prosperity smiled on every -side; taxes were low; wages 
were high ; the North and the South furnished a market for each 
others products at good prices; public liberty was secure; private 
rights undisturbed ; every man's house was his castle ; the courts 
were open to all ; no passports for travel ; no secret police ; no 
spies; no informers; nobastiles; the right to assemble peaceably; 
the right to petition ; freedom of religion, freedom of speech, a 
free ballot, and a free press ; and all this time the Constitution 
maintained and the Union of the States preserved. 

Such were the choice fruits of Democratic principles and policy, 
carried out through the whole period during which the Demo- 
cratic party held the power and administered the Federal Gov- 
ernment. Such has been the history of that party. It is a Union 
party for it preserved the Union, by wisdom, peace, and compro- 
mise, for more than half a century. 

Then neither the ancient principles, the policy, nor the past 
history of the Democratic party require nor would justify its dis- 
band men t. 

Is there anything in the present crisis which demands it ? The 
more immediate issue is, 

TO MAINTAIN THE CONSTITUTION AS IT TS, AND TO RESTORE THE 
UNION AS IT WAS. 

To maintain the Constitution is to respect the rights of the States 
and the liberties of the citizen. It is to adhere faithfully to the 
very principles and policy which the Democratic party has pro- 



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fessed for more than half a century. Let its history, and the re- 
sults, from the beginning, prove whether it has practiced them 
We appeal proudly to the record. 

The first step towards a restoration of the Union as it was is to 
maintain the Constitution as it is. So long as it was maintained 
in fact, and not threatened with infraction in spirit and in letter, 
actual or imminent, the Union was unbroken. 

To restore the Union, it is essential, first, to give assurance to 
every State and to the people of every section that their rights 
and liberties and property will be secure within the Union 
under the Constitution, What assurance so doubly sure as the 
restoration to power of that ancient, organized, consolidated Dem- 
ocratic party which for sixty years did secure the property, rights, 
and liberties of the States and of the people; and thus did main- 
tain the Constitution and preserve the Union, and with them the 
multiplied blessings which distinguished us above all other 
nations ? 

To restore the Union is to crush out sectionalism North and 
South. To begin the great work of restoration through the ballot 
is to kill Abolition. The bitter waters of secession flowed first 
and are fed still from the unclean fountain of abolition. That 
fountain must be dried up. Armies may break down the power 
of the Confederate Government in the South ; but the work of 
restoration can be carried on only through political organization 
and the ballot in the North , and' West. In this great work we 
cordially invito»the co-operatiou of all men of every party, who 
are opposed to the fell spirit of abolition, and who, in sin- 
cerity, desire the Constitution as it is, and the Union as it was. 
Let the dead past bury its dead. Rally, lovers of the Union, the 
Constitution, and of Liberty, to the standard of the Democratic 
party, already in the field and confident of victory. That party 
is the natural and persistent enemy of abolition. Upon this 
question its record as a national organization, however it may 
have been at times with particular men or in particular States, is 
clear and unquestionable. From the beginning of the anti-sla- 
very agitation to the period of the last Democratic National Con- 
vention it has held but one language in regard to it. Let the re- 
cord speak : 

"Resolved, That Congress has do power under the Constitution to intefere with 
or control the domestic institutions of the several States, and that such States are 
the sole aud proper judges of every thing appertaining to their own affairs not 
prohibited by the Constitution ; that all efforts of the Abolitionists or others made 
to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps 
in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most aiarming and dangerous con- 
sequences, and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the 
happiness of the people and endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, 
and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our political institutions." 

Upon these principles alone, so far as relates to slavery, can the 
Union as it was be restored ; and no other Union, except the 
Unity of Despotism, can be maintained in this country; aud this 
last we will resist, as our fathers did, with our lives, our fortunes, 
and our sacred honor. 



Bat it is said that you must disband the Democratic party " to 
support the Government." We answer that the Democratic party 
has always supported the Government ; and while it was in power 
preserved the Government in all its vigor and integrity, not by 
force and arms, but by wisdom, sound policy, and peace. But it 
never did admit, and never will, that this Administration, or any 
Administration, is " the Government." It holds, and ever has 
held, that the Federal Government is the agent of the people of 
the several States composing the Union ; that it consists of three 
distinct departments — the legislative, the executive, and the judi- 
cial — each equally a part of the Government, and equally enti- 
tled to the confidence and support of the States and the people ; 
and that it is the duty of every patriot to sustain the several de- 
partments of the Government in the exercise of all the constitu- 
tional powers of each which may be necessary and proper for the 
^preservation of the Government in its principles and in its vigor 
and integrity, and to stand by and defend to the utmost the flag 
which represents the Government, the Union, and the country. 

In this sense the Democratic party has always sustained, and 
will now sustain, the Government against all foes, at home or 
abroad, in the North or the South, open or concealed, in office or 
out of office, in peace or in war. 

If this is what the Republican party mean by supporting the 
Government, it is an idle thing to abandon the old and tried De- 
mocratic party, which for so many years, and through so many 
trials, supported, preserved, and maintained the Government of 
the Union. But if their real purpose be to aid the ancient ene- 
mies cf the Democracy in subverting our present Constitution 
and form of government, and, under pretence of saving the 
Union, to erect a strong centralized despotism on its ruins, the 
Democratic party will resist them- as the worst enemy to the Con- 
stitution and the Union, aud to free government eveiy where. 

We do not propose to consider now the causes which led to the 
present unhappy civil war. A fitter time will come hereafter 
for such discussion. But we remind you now that compromise 
made your Union, and compromise fifteen months ago would 
saved saved it. Repeated efforts were made at the last session 
of the Thirty-sixth Congress to this end. At every stage, the 
great mass of the South, with the whole Democratic party, 
and the whole Constitutional Union party, of the North and 
West, united in favor of certain amendments to the Consti- 
tution — and chief among them, the well known " Crittenden 
Propositions," which would have averted civil war and main- 
tained the Union. At every stage, all proposed amendments in- 
consistent with the sectional doctrines of the Chicago Platform 
were strenuously and unanimously resisted and defeated by the 
Republican party. The " Crittenden Propositions" never receiv- 
ed a single Republican vote in either House. For the proof we 
appeal to the Journals of Congress and to the Congressional 
Globe. 



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We scorn to reply to .the charge that the Democratic party is 
opposed to granting aid and support to the Federal Government 
in maintaining its safety, integrity, and constitutional suprema- 
cy, and in favor of disbanding our armies and succumbing to the 
South. The charge is libellous and false. No man has advoca- 
ted any such proposition. Democrats recognize it as their duty 
as patriots to support the Government in all constitutional, neces- 
sary, and proper efforts to maintain its safety, integrity, and con- 
stitutional authority ; but at the same time they are inflexibly 
opposed to waging war against any of the States or people of this 
Union, in any spirit of oppression, or for any purpose of conquest 
or subjugation, or of overthrowing or interfering with the rights 
or established institutions of any State. Above all, the Demo- 
cratic party will not support the Administration in any thing 
which looks or tends to the loss of our political or personal rights 
and liberties, or a change of our present Democratic form of 
government. 

But no, Democrats, it is not the support of the Government in 
restoring the Union which the party in power require of you. 
You are asked to give up your principles, your policy, and your 
party, and to stand by the Administration in all its acts. 
Above all, it is demanded of you that you yield at least a 
silent support to their whole policy, and to withhold all scrutiny 
into their public conduct of every kind, lest you should "em- 
barrass the Administration." You are thus asked to renounce 
one of the first principles and the chief security of a Democratic 
government — the right to hold public servants responsible to their 
master, the people / to render the representative accountable to the 
constituent / the ancient and undoubted prerogative of Americans 
to canvass public measures and public men. It is this " high 
constitutional privilege " which Daniel Webster declared he 
would " defend and exercise within the House and out of the 
House, and in all places ; in time of war, in time of peace, and 
at all times /" It is a right secured by the Constitution ; a right 
inestimable to the people, and formidable to tyrants only. 

If ever there was a time when the existence and consolidation 
of the Democratic party upon its principles and policy was a vital 
necessity to public and private liberty, it is now. 

Unquestionably the Constitution gives ample power to the sev- 
eral departments of the Government to carry on war, strictly 
subject to its provisions, and, in case of civil war, with perfect 
security to citizens of the loyal States. Every act necessary for 
the safety and efficiency of the Government, and for a complete 
and most vigorous trial of its strength, is yet wholly consistent 
with the observance of every provision of that instrument, and 
of the laws in pursuance of it, if the sole motives of those in 
power were the suppression of the " rebellion," and no more. 
And yet the history of the Administration for the twelve months 
past has been, and continues to be, a history of repeated usurpa- 
tions of power and of violations of the Constitution, and of the 



public and private rights of the citizen. For the proof we appeal 
to facts too recent to need recital here, and too flagrant and hei- 
nous for the calm narrative which we propose. Similar acts 
were done and a like policy pursued in the threatened war with 
France in the time of John Adams, and with the same ultimate 
purpose. But in two or three years the people forced them into 
an honorable peace with France, rebuked the excesses and abuses 
of power, vindicated the Constitution, and turned over the Fed- 
eral Government to the principles and policy of the Democratic 
party. To the "sober second thought" of the people, therefore, 
and to the ballot-box, we now appeal when again in like peril 
with our fathers. 

But if every Democrat concurred in the policy of prosecuting 
the war to the utter subjugation of the South and for the subver- 
sion of her State Governments and her institutions, without a 
Convention of the States, and without an overture for peace, we 
should just as resolutely resist the disbanding of the Democratic 
party. It is the only party capable of carrying on a war ; it is 
the only party which has ever conducted a war to a successful 
issue, and the only party which has done it without abuse of 
power, without molestation to the rights of any class of citizens, 
and with due regard to economy. All this it has done ; all this, 
if need be, it is able to do again. If success, then, in a military 
point of view be required, the Democratic party alone can com- 
mand it. 

To conclude : Inviting all men, without distinction of State, 
section, or party, who are for the Constitution as it is and the 
Union as it was, to unite with us in this great work upon terms 
of perfect equality, we insist that — 

The restoration of the Union, whether through peace or by 
war, demands the continued organization and success of the 
Democratic party ; 

The preservation of the Constitution demands it ; 

The maintenance of liberty and free democratical government 
demands it; 

The restoration of a sound system of internal policy demands it; 

Economy and honesty in the public expenditures, now at the 
rate of near four millions of dollars a day, demand it ; 

The rapid accumulation of an enormous and permanent public 
debt demand it — a public debt already one thousand millions of 
dollars, and equal at the present rate, in three years, to England's 
debt of a century and a half in growth ; 

The heavy taxation, direct and indirect, State and Federal, 
already more than two hundred millions of dollars a year, eating 
out the substance of the people, augmenting every year, de- 
mands it ; 

Reduced wages, low prices, depression of trade, decay of busi- 
ness, scarcity of work, and impending ruin on every side, de- 
mand it ; 



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And, finally, the restoration of the concord, good feeling, and 
prosperity of former years, demands that the Democratic party 
shall be maintained and made victorious. 

W. A. RICHARDSON, of Illinois. 

A. L. KNAPP, of Illinois. 

J. C. ROBINSON, of Illinois. 

JOHN LAW, of Indiana. 

D. W. VOORHEES, of Indiana. 

W. ALLEN, of Ohio. 

C. A. WHITE, of Ohio. 

WARREN P. NOBLE, of Ohio, 

GEO. H. PENDLETON, of Ohio. 

JAS. R. MORRIS, of Ohio. 

C. L. YALLANDIGHAM, of Ohio. 

NEHEMIAH PERRY, of New Jersey. 

PHILIP JOHNSON, of Penn. 

S. E. ANCONA, of Penn. 

GEO. K SHEIL, of Oregon. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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